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Author: Matt Kernan

Weekend Hangover: Premature Deception edition

Drake came early! Everyone at VGH HQ got a copy of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception this week. We’re not trying to brag or anything. Well… maybe a little bit. But hey, as we mentioned in VGH #27, that was kind of the entire point of going to the AMC / Uncharted theater events, so just let us relish this special feeling for a moment. Besides, the game is really good and well worth a couple more days of waiting. But yeah…. we’re playing it this weekend.

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Dress-up time – Saints Row: The Third’s Initiation Station now available

I had a blast playing dress-up last night. No, not with my actual dolls – those are in storage. I was mucking around with the newly-released Initiation Station for Saints Row: The Third. After fiddling around for about 10 or 15 minutes, I ended up with the depraved individual you see before you, whom I’ve oh-so-creatively named “Matilda.” The standalone application/demo lets you pick from a fairly impressive list of features, hairstyles, clothing, accessories, taunts, tattoos, and even underwear. With all these choices at hand, you’ll be able to create everything from a well-dressed, well-groomed, attractive dude to an intensely disturbing, half-naked, red-headed pervert.

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LittleBigPlanet 2 Special Edition and Move bundle unveiled

Sony today unveiled a new OHMYGOD look at that adorable little Nathan Drake Sackboy! HOW CUTE!

Oh, sorry. Anyway, in addition to announcing that new Sackboy outfit, they also announced a new ‘Special Edition’ version of LittleBigPlanet 2 today. This new release includes the main game, along with the new Move-enabled story level pack, the Toy Story level pack, and a handful of costume packs. I’ve played some of the levels in the Move pack myself and they were a ton of fun.

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Sales Hangover: Arkham City becomes fastest-selling game to feature shark punching

Editor’s note: I didn’t actually do any fact-checking on that whole “face punching” thing.

The latest game to chronicle the exploits of the “World’s Greatest Detective”, Batman: Arkham City, is performing pretty well, evidently. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced today that the game has shipped 4.6 million units worldwide in its first week on the market, with the LA Times following up with a report that says actual sales have already hit 2 million units.

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Crysis review: Consolation prize

Crysis

I have a confession. I’m a Mac user. That has very little to do with Crysis, but it does mean that when the gorgeous, PC-only shooter first arrived in 2007, I was severely ill-equipped to experience its visual splendor. Not only was I not in the same ballpark, I wasn’t even in the right zip code. This veritable feast for the eyes was so resource-hungry that there were plenty of Windows users whose systems couldn’t quite cut the mustard either when it came to running it at a desirable quality and framerate. Thankfully, Crytek has seen fit to come to our rescue. No longer will you have to live in fear, worrying that you may find yourself in an awkward conversation, forced to sheepishly admit that you’ve never played Crysis because your computer couldn’t hang with those other, more powerful PCs. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Crysis has arrived on consoles. If you don’t have a console, you can visit 25pc.com for their guides on PC builds for any budget and see if you can build a gaming PC that can run Crysis at 1080p 60 fps.

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Weekend Hangover: Spooky detectives edition

Editor’s note: Randy had a really great Professor Layton-based idea for our weekend post, but I had trouble with fleshing it out. Instead, I wasted close to an hour creating that abomination you see above (it’ll make a little more sense when you finish reading the post).

There’s a distinct chill in the air, Halloween is getting closer, and we’re ankles deep in the fall game release onslaught. What’s everyone playing this weekend (when not carving pumpkins or sipping on hot apple cider)?

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Drake’s journal and armband review: Off the cuff

As part of Sony’s marketing push for the upcoming release of Uncharted 3, a couple of interesting promotional items are being offered to fans – namely, replicas of Drake’s journal and wrist cuff. If you live in one of the handful of cities where the AMC / Uncharted 3 theater events are taking place and you attended one of them, you should have received the pair in your gift bag, along with a few other goodies. If you want to try your luck, they’re also being offered together as a level-2 prize in the Subway “Taste for Adventure” contest. With the release of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception quickly approaching (and because I just received them last night at the Dallas AMC event), I thought it would be worth taking a closer look at them to find out if they’re remarkable replicas or terrible tchotchkes.

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Drake’s Deception: Asking you to pre-order add-ons for a game that isn’t even out yet


[Spoken aloud, by Drake]: “All men buy DLC: but not equally.” (At least I think that’s how the line in the reveal trailer goes…)

In an increasingly more common move that strikes me as a mix between shady and yet somehow still somewhat consumer-friendly, Sony has just announced that you can pre-purchase a big ‘ol chunk of multiplayer DLC for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Fortune, starting today as part of a program they’ve dubbed the “Fortune Hunters’ Club”. For the low, low price of $24.99, early birds will get the game’s first four map packs and the first three multiplayer skins packs, as they are released, with the first pack hitting in November.

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Weekend Hangover – Sunday night frights

The Walking Dead

As mentioned in the Last Call section of VGH #25, season 2 of The Walking Dead premieres this weekend on AMC. If you’re not caught up, don’t worry – Season 1 is on Netflix streaming. So, Sunday night is on quarantine, but where does that leave us the rest of the weekend? Allow us to pick your brain – drop a note in the comments and let us know what’s on your gaming agenda this weekend!

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Rochard review: Weightless wonder

Throw it on his head

The typical fall onslaught of big-budget blockbuster games is nearly upon us, but before we find ourselves entirely engrossed with bat-men, battlefields, and assassins, let’s take a look at a less-weighty title that’s available right now. At first glance, Playstation Network-exclusive Rochard might appear to be just another side-scrolling action game, but once you get into the swing of things, you’ll find an incredibly satisfying mix of platforming, puzzles, physics, and puns, courtesy of Finnish studio Recoil Games.

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Bastion review: A proper story

The Bastion

When I first tried playing Bastion, I wasn’t quite sure what all the fuss was about.  In fact, after I played the demo, I sort of shrugged a little, deleted it, and went about my day.  All I had really known about the game prior to its release was that it had a hand-painted look and that it was dynamically narrated.  While the demo indeed confirmed that the game featured both of these elements, the relatively brief slice of the game on display didn’t exactly leave me clamoring for more.  I enjoyed it, but I couldn’t help but feel slightly underwhelmed by what was supposed to be one of the marquee titles of Microsoft’s “Summer of Arcade” promotion.  I ultimately ended up purchasing the full game after seeing and hearing the overwhelmingly positive reception it had been receiving.  Once I began to really dig into it, I found my initial lukewarm feelings were completely turned around.  What I had initially thought was just a mediocre hack-and-slash affair turned out to be so excellent that it might just be the best downloadable title of 2011.

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Crysis 2 review: Will it blend?

Don't screw with this guy

Much like a nanosuit-wearing badass’ ability to silently sneak up on enemies, Crysis 2 crept up on me, surprising me with a thoroughly entertaining campaign and fast-paced multiplayer modes that I feel compelled to keep coming back to. There isn’t anything necessarily ground-breaking here, but what is here is a perfect blend of ideas and concepts found in other popular modern shooters, with a dash of its own ingredients added for flavor.

Crysis 2 was an interesting proposition for me. Having never played the original, I wouldn’t exactly say that the sequel had been “on my radar” in the months leading up to its release. After a brief hands-on with the multiplayer beta, my interest level skyrocketed. I ultimately decided to buy the full game and I’ve been impressed overall with the experience.

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